The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-08-20

"How could they ?" DIR. Charming, in
the notes to his Newport dedication
sermon, as long ago as 1896, had some
trenchant paragraphs in regard to this
same matter, based upon the extreme
severity of the theological opinions Of
old DR.. Hopkins, in contrast with the
Righteousness of the DOCTORS personal
manner. Charming remarks: "This
Righteousness may seem to some who
are unacquainted with the world, not
consistent with the great severity of
his (Dr. Hopkins') theology but moth
ing is more common than this apparent
self contradiction. The ministers who
deal most in terrors, who preach doc
trines which ought to make their flesh
creep, and to turn their eyes into foun-
tains of tears, are not generally dis
tinguished by their spare forms or bag
gard countenances. They take the
world as easily as people of milder
creed, and this does not show that they
want sincerity or benevolence. 1t only
shows how specifically men may be-
lieve in doctrines which yet they would
shudder to relinquish. 1t shows how
little the tempest of language which is
Numbered from their lips is compre-
hended and felt" 81 should not set
down as hard-hearted," continues DR..
Charming, ga man whose appetite should
be improved by preaching sermon,
full of images and threatenings of
'bottomless hell The best meals are
sometimes made after such effusions."
Let the Independent consider this pas
sage from Claiming, and see if it has
any better solution to present of the
problem of the popularity of orthodox
ministers, despite their terrible faith,
than that suggested with reference
to the case of DR.. Hopkins,-a SUI
perficial belief in the doctrine which
does not touch the core or marrow of
the life.
James Martineau has also dwelt on
this inconsistency in manner which
would certainly edify the Independent,
if duly considered and applied. He
tells Of certain DR.. Hamilton, of
Leeds, who wrote a terrible book on
endless punishment, which taught that
beyond the little circle of choice be-
levers the world was a vast torture
chamber" And yet we are told, "a
merrier laugh, or greater geniality,
was rarely to be found" "The profess
sional hours of his life," remarks Mar
tineau, "were spent like those of some
of the old painters, in coloring lurid
pictures of his neighbors clutched by
devils, and the world in general, swal-
lowing hot pitch, and for the rest of the
time he was free to dine with the rep
rebates and crack his jokes with the
damned" 'No one," adds Martineau,
"who considers the intense inconsist-
ency involved in such life can believe
that the theologian really held the faith
which the grasp Of familiar hand, or
the welcome on familiar face, sufficed
to dissipate."
If the Independent wishes an instance
nearer home, we commend the descrip-
ton Mrs. Stowe gives of DIR. Lyman
Beecher, after preaching his soul-har-
rowing sermons to the unconverted,
working off his nervous excitement by
a frolic with his children, and playing
on his fiddle the liveliest of dancing
tunes-even go to the devil and shake
yourself !" Can we believe that DR..
Beecher, one of the most humane and
tender hearted of men, would indulge
in such unseemly mirth, while the
echoes of his damnatory preaching were
hardly spent, if he had what the Meth
odists call "a realizing sense" of the
doctrine he preached-if he actually
and positively believed the doctrine as
he believed things pertaining to the
facts and experiences of life ? 1t is
only by some such theory as this, per-
uniting the thought that these good
men, and others like them, before and
since, in the orthodox pulpit, seem to
themselves, to believe, when they do
not in reality positively and actually
entertain the belief in any such way as
to influence conduct, that they can be
saved from the charge of hypocrisy, and
allowed to be worthy men, despite the
inconsistency for which their creed is
responsible. And yet, when we con-
slider the terrible nature of their alleged
beliefs, and the soul narrowing doctrines
they preached, and then survey the
spectacle presented of apparent indif-
ference to it all; when we consider the
hilarity of their personal intercourse
and their general sympathy with the
fun and good times of the world, it is
very natural to ask whenever we hear of
them cracking their jokes or otherwise
indulging in mirth and good cheer, How
could they ?" Yes, how could they be
so lively and funny with hell open be-
fore the world, and swallowing up, even
while they were dining and joking, vast
multitudes of their fellow beings?
We regret to learn that Mrs. W. R.